Agenda and minutes

With effect from 1 April 2016 Agenda and Minutes will be available
in both Welsh and English. Reports are working documents and
produced in English only in accordance with Welsh Language Standard
41 of this Council’s Final Compliance Notice from the Welsh
Language Commissioner.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors
T Alan Edwards, Paul Jones and Rondo Roberts and co-opted member Mr Brent
Evans.

41.

Declarations of personal interests, if any

Members
are reminded of their responsibility, under Paragraph 11 of the Members’ Code
of Conduct, to declare the existence and nature of any personal interest in
respect of any of the business to be transacted at this meeting

Members were reminded of
their responsibility, under Article 11 of the Members’ Code of Conduct, to
declare any interests in relation to any of the business to be transacted at
this meeting. The following declarations were made:

Agenda Item 5 – Councillors
Dana Davies, Carrie Harper and Debbie Wallice – Personal – Parent of child at a
Wrexham school.The Councillor remained
in the meeting taking part in the discussion and voting thereon.

Agenda Item 5 – Councillors R
Alun Jenkins, Beverley Parry-Jones and Robert Walsh – Personal and
Prejudicial.The Councillor remained in
the meeting and claimed an exemption under Article 12(2) of the Members’ Code
of Conduct taking part in the discussion and voting thereon.

The Head of Finance submitted a report (HF/46/17s) to assist
the Committee in considering and agreeing its work programme.

The Scrutiny Facilitator presented the report drawing
Members’ attention to the following:

·Proposal to hold an All Member Workshop in
September 2018 to ensure the wider involvement of all Members to consider how
effective the Scrutiny Committee was in supporting improvement in education.Referring to the Centre for Public Scrutiny
document ‘Back to School’, a Member requested that consideration be given in
future to the scheduling of more than one item per meeting on the work
programme to maximise the Committee’s effectiveness.The Head of Education requested that where
the Committee scheduled more than one item per meeting, Officer capacity to
submit those reports was taken into account.

·Budget setting scrutiny – September meeting of
the Committee allocated to consider budget items identified at the All Member
Workshops and an additional meeting to be scheduled in December, if required,
to consider any specific consultation responses.

·Topic Selection Form at Appendix 1 to the report
in respect of Period Poverty.The Lead
Member and Service Manager reported that work was currently being undertaken to
explore how best to allocate the recent funding announced by Welsh Government
for local authorities to help tackle the issue of period povertyThe Committee agreed to establish a task and
finish group based on the outcomes and issues in the topic selection form to
support the review and consider the funding allocation and future revenue
funding issues.

AGREED –

(i)That the work programme be agreed.

(ii)That
a task and finish group comprising of the following Members be established to consider
the issue of Period Poverty:

(Members declarations of
interest in relation to this item are set out in Minute 41 above)

The Lead Member for People (Education) submitted a report
(HF/08/18s) to provide Members with information about the standards achieved by
groups of vulnerable learners in Wrexham in 2017 and to provide Members with
information about the verified GCSE results in 2017, focusing on the Level 2
inclusive indicator.

The Head of Education reported that owing to the small
cohort size the outcomes for Looked After Children had not been included in
today’s report but would be shared with Members as a confidential information
report.

The Chair welcomed representatives from GwE
to the meeting.He then invited
Committee members to comment and ask questions on the report.The following issues were highlighted in
debate:

·The improvements in free school meals (FSM)
performance across most key stages in 2016 were noted and welcomed by the
Committee.The need for improvement at
Key Stage 4 was identified.

·The inadequacy of the FSM indicator as an
identifier of need in light of changes to the benefits system.Requested that representations be made to
Welsh Government in this regard.

·Difficulties in identifying pupils not claiming
FSM but who had similar needs. This impacted upon the support that schools
could provide via the Pupil Development Grant.

·Changes to the indicator used by the Welsh
Government to calculate the Pupil Development Grant (PDG) were reported to the
Committee which could disadvantage schools with increasing FSM levels.

·Difficulties in sharing information to promote
eligibility for FSM arising from GDPR requirements.

·The difficulties in measuring the impact of PDG
on achievement.It was noted that PDG
could be used to provide activities for groups of pupils requiring
intervention, so long as it primarily targeted FSM learners before other
vulnerable groups.The GwE Officer commented on the role of GwE
in providing advice and guidance to schools on the effective use of the
grant.

·Increase in the incidence of pupils with
additional needs on early years entry and its impact on the Foundation
Phase.The GwE
Officer reported that this was a key priority for the regional early years
intervention group in terms of the continual professional development offer
from GwE.

·Further information sought in respect of support
for speech and language development in early years.It was reported that the early years PDG in
Wrexham was used to employ a speech and language outreach officer who worked
with staff and parents with the early identification of issues and developing
strategies of support.

·Members were informed of a programme of targeted
support for schools at key stage 2 to support teachers in improving the
outcomes of FSM learners.

·Members were reassured that the improved
performance at key stage 2 was likely to continue, based on the tracking data
provided to the local authority by schools.

·The difference in the targets set and level of
achievement at key stage 4, level 2 inclusive.It was reported that changes to the GCSE qualifications and criteria ... view the full minutes text for item 44.